Reflections on freedom, peace and remembrance: themes of John 14 and Memorial Day
Peace is liberty in tranquility. — Marcus Tullius Cicero
The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. — Douglas MacArthur
Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love. — Francis of Assisi
We never know how high we are
Till we are called to rise;
And then, if we are true to plan,
Our statures touch the skies.
— Emily Dickinson
Memorial Day Reflections
Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future. – Elie Wiesel
On Memorial Day, I don’t want to only remember the combatants. There were also those who came out of the trenches as writers and poets, who started preaching peace, men and women who have made this world a kinder place to live. — Eric Burdon
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter the words, but to live by them. — John F. Kennedy
Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die. — G.K. Chesterton
Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime. — Adlai Stevenson II
Memorial Day isn’t just about honoring veterans, its honoring those who lost their lives. Veterans had the fortune of coming home. For us, that’s a reminder of when we come home we still have a responsibility to serve. It’s a continuation of service that honors our country and those who fell defending it. — Pete Hegseth
A man’s country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle and patriotism is loyalty to that principle. — George William Curtis
It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God such men lived. — George S. Patton
Freedom of Thought, Speech & Action
Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind. — Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. But
to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a fate
more terrible than dying. — Jeanne d’Arc
Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love. ― Mother Teresa
You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom. — Malcolm X
IYou rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you need
to make choices. And hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense
of who you are. — Fred Rodgers
To be blessed with visions is not enough…we must live them! — High Eagle
… it is not enough to love the earth, though that is a crucial first step. We also have to act on its behalf. — Ken Stone
I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness; I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too. I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more. — Anne Frank
I speak not for myself but for those without voice… those who have fought for their rights… their right to live in peace, their right to be treated with dignity, their right to equality of opportunity, their right to be educated. — Malala Yousafzai
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same. — Ronald Reagan
Every human has four endowments – self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom… The power to choose, to respond, to change. — Stephen Covey
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. — Abraham Lincoln
There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires. — Nelson Mandela
I believe in Liberty for all men: the space to stretch their arms and their souls, the right to breathe and the right to vote, the freedom to choose their friends, enjoy the sunshine, and ride on the railroads, uncursed by color; thinking, dreaming, working as they will in a kingdom of beauty and love. — W. E. B. Du Bois
Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation. — Coretta Scott King
The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of law, where there is no law, there is no freedom. — John Locke
Inner Peace
Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be. —Wayne W. Dyer
Peace is always beautiful. — Walt Whitman
Nobody can bring you peace but yourself. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Love and peace of mind do protect us. They allow us to overcome the
problems that life hands us. They teach us to survive… to live now… to
have the courage to confront each day. —Bernie Siegel
You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level. —Eckhart Tolle
We don’t realize that, somewhere within us all, there does exist a supreme self who is eternally at peace. —Elizabeth Gilbert
If you cannot find peace within yourself, you will never find it anywhere else. —Marvin Gaye
Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy and serenity. — Thich Nhat Hanh
Success isn’t measured by money or power or social rank. Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. — Mike Ditka
Social Peace
Peace is its own reward. —Mahatma Gandhi
Peace is the beauty of life. It is
sunshine. It is the smile of a child, the love of a mother, the joy of a
father, the togetherness of a family. It is the advancement of man, the
victory of a just cause, the triumph of truth. Menachem Begin
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/peace
Peace
is the beauty of life. It is sunshine. It is the smile of a child, the
love of a mother, the joy of a father, the togetherness of a family. It
is the advancement of man, the victory of a just cause, the triumph of
truth. Menachem Begin
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/peace
Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone’s face? Did I
say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I
forgive? Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the
little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this
world and the life to come. — Henri Nouwen
A hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people. — Maya Angelou
Peace is the beauty of life. It is sunshine. It is the smile of a child,
the love of a mother, the joy of a father, the togetherness of a
family. It is the advancement of man, the victory of a just cause, the
triumph of truth. — Menachem Begin
To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring
peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a
man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all
wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him. — Buddha
I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the
starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace
and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed
truth and unconditional love will have the final word. — Martin Luther King, Jr.
f you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner. — Nelson Mandela
Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing
opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures. —John F. Kennedy
It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it. — Eleanor Roosevelt
If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human
relationships – the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live
together, in the same world at peace. — Franklin D. Roosevelt
Story: Homeland
JCC 070118 – Homeland from architect on Vimeo.
Sermon: Freedom Walk
JCC 091717 – Freedom Walk from architect on Vimeo.
Meditations on walking toward freedom from bondage
A refugee from Belief seeks a cell tonight.
… And I … only am escaped to tell thee—
God sobs in my arms. Call me Ishmael tonight.
The courage to shed the familiar walls …
Freedom Walk:
From Slavery to Something Else
Believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it. — Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
Life is a gift to be received with gratitude and a task to be pursued with courage. — Presbyterian Church USA, Confession of 1967
When author Madeleine L’Engle was asked, ‘Do you believe in God without any doubts?’ she replied, ‘I believe in God with all my doubts. — Bruce Epperly, Christian Century 1-26-10
I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death. — Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: Autobiography of Nelson Mandela.
The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers. — M. Scott Peck
We make the road by walking. — Paulo Freire
if you can’t run then walk,
if you can’t walk then crawl,
but whatever you do
you have to keep moving forward.
― Martin Luther King Jr
This year is also the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation.
Prayer — Martin Luther